Growing car sizes could add €36bn to EU charging bills by 2040

A study by Transport & Environment (T&E) warns that Europe's new cars keep growing in length and height, driving up energy consumption. If the trend continues, an extra 116 TWh could be used by 2040 across the EU and UK compared with a scenario of more compact vehicles, costing households €36 billion in charging bills between 2026 and 2040. Combustion vehicles could also burn 100 million extra barrels of oil. Portuguese NGO ZERO warns of threats to urban space and road safety, projecting hundreds more deaths, and calls for EU size limits and tax reforms discouraging oversized vehicles.